MANILA, Philippines — A major cyclone made landfall in the country's north on Monday, killing at least three people, leaving a wasteland of fallen trees and power poles, and sending thousands fleeing to safety in near-zero visibility.
Tropical Storm Risk said Megi, known locally as Juan, was a Category 5 super typhoon, the highest rating, with winds of more than 155 mph when it hit mountains in northeast Luzon overnight Sunday.
As Megi blew across the northern Philippines, forecasters said it would next hit China and Vietnam, where recent floods unrelated to the storm have caused 30 deaths. In China, authorities evacuated 140,000 people from a coastal province ahead of the typhoon.
Megi made landfall midday Monday at Palanan Bay in Isabela province, felling trees and utility poles and cutting off power, phone and Internet services. Its ferocious wind slightly weakened while crossing the mountains of the Philippines' main northern island of Luzon.
As it crashed ashore, the typhoon whipped up huge waves. Visibility was near-zero and radio reports said the wind was so powerful that people could not take more than a step at a time. Authorities told ships and fishing vessels to stay in ports, and cancelled several domestic and international flights.
Megi was the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines in four years, government forecasters said. A 2006 howler with 155-mph winds set off mudslides that buried entire villages, killing about 1,000 people.
In Vietnam, officials say up to 31.5 inches of rain have pounded areas in just a few days, forcing 126,000 people to flee their homes. Earlier flooding this month left more than 80 people dead or missing.
Megi could add to the misery.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39716105/ns/weather?gt1=43001
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